Son of Sydney shooting victim Lametta Fadlallah, killed alongside hairdresser Amy Hazouri, speaks

‘Nobody deserves this,’ said the grieving son of Sydney double shooting victim Lametta Fadlallah, who was brazenly assassinated by a hitman on the weekend.

Ms Fadlallah, 48, was gunned down alongside her hairdresser outside her home in Panania, south-west Sydney, on Saturday evening while in the back of a Toyota 4WD.

Investigators suspect she was targeted because of her connections to organised crime as the one-time lover of two well-known underworld figures – former gangster Shadi Derbas and 200kg standover man Helal Safi.

Ms Fadlallah’s adult son, Abraham Derbas told Daily Mail Australia on Monday evening that his mother should be remembered as a ‘very nice lady’, while his grandmother, ZamZam Derbas described what had happened as an unprecedented ‘tragedy’.

‘Nothing ever happened like this before, nothing,’ she said.

On the night of her gruesome death, she was on the way to her new partner’s popular Lebanese restaurant Massaya, in South Strathfield, to attend an engagement party.

Amy Hazouri, 39, had just stopped over at Ms Fadlallah’s home to blow-dry her client’s hair for the special party and was also invited to tag along to the shindig.

The hairdresser died in a hail of gun fire sitting next to Ms Fadlallah just as they were about to drive away.

Police believe Ms Hazouri was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Her former brother-in-law, Mounir Sajad, told the Sydney Morning Herald he had pleaded with Ms Hazouri to not associate with Ms Fadlallah, given her reputation as an underworld figure.

But Ms Hazouri did not feel she was in any danger.

Her sister Manal Raunegger wrote a heartbreaking post online revealing that Ms Hazouri was the sole breadwinner for her family back in Lebanon which is currently struggling with an economic crisis triggering food, fuel and medicine shortages.

‘We require urgent funds to carry out funeral services and transfer her body to Lebanon to lay at rest. Our mother is not well and cannot travel to Australia to see her daughter,’ she said.

‘We are asking family, friends and the community to donate what they can and share this page around as we require urgent funds during this time as we cannot afford this service. Every dollar and support is appreciated. May her soul rest in peace.’

Mrs Derbas still lives in the street where a member of Ms Fadlallah’s one-time husband Shadi’s gang killed innocent Korean schoolboy Edward Lee in a year of bloody violence which erupted in southwestern Sydney.

The 1998 death of 14-year-old Lee, who was knifed while attending a birthday party a few doors away by Telopea Street gang member Mustapha Dib, sparked a police crackdown which incited even more gang violence.

In the same year, Telopea Street gang members were involved in their own double shooting, when Shadi Derbas and other gang members were present while infamous gangster Michael Kanaan shot two men outside the Five Dock Hotel.

Shadi Derbas was convicted of hindering investigations into the Five Dock murders of Adam Wright and Michael Hurle.

Telopea gang members later shot up the Lakemba police station and were allegedly involved in drive-by shootings.

The gang folded in 2000, in the wake of Shadi Derbas’ conviction.

Shadi Derbas is understood to have long since turned his back on a life of crime and has not been in a relationship with Ms Fadlallah for several years. 

Ms Fadlallah’s heartbroken mother also talked to Daily Mail Australia on Monday, saying that her daughter’s reputation had been ‘trashed’ when she deserves to be ‘remembered well’.

Her sister-in-law said the family received many calls and thanked people for their sympathy and kind words.

The family asked to be left alone to grieve in peace.

Ms Fadlallah rented the duplex she was murdered outside of for five years with her 16-year-old son.

Suellen, who owns the property, said Ms Fadlallah was a reliable tenant who kept the property clean and paid rent on time.

She said the mother had recently paid an advance to have a security system installed which would see three cameras trained on the street she was later shot in.

‘The furniture in there was expensive and she had cameras put in,’ Suellen told Daily Mail Australia.

‘She was clean and tidy, she had a cleaning lady come in.’

Suellen added that she thought she heard a loud noise at the time of the assassination but didn’t initially realise there had been a shooting in the street.

‘I just heard one big explosion, like a big bang, not individual gunshots and I looked out into the street and I could see no-one,’ she said.

‘Amour Park the soccer stadium is behind us and I just thought it was something from there, but louder. It wasn’t until half an hour later the police came and I heard sirens.’

Police have since revealed a 20-year-old man was driving the Toyota 4WD the two women were shot in and managed to drive away while the vehicle was still under fire. A 16-year-old girl was also in the front car and miraculously survived.

Once the driver reached safety around the corner he called emergency services for help to save the two shot women in the back seat. 

The heartbroken father of the ‘innocent’ hairdresser said his daughter was an ‘angel’ and that he wished he’d died instead.

On Monday night Ms Hazouri’s devastated father, Khaled, broke down crying while describing his beautiful daughter.

‘Angel, angel,’ he told Nine News. ‘Friendly to every people.’

In broken English Mr Hazouri said his daughter always had a smile and offered a hand wherever needed.

While the broken father sobbed a translator revealed he said he wished he had died instead of Amy.

An underworld source who knew Ms Fadlallah told the Daily Telegraph she could have been killed because she ‘knew too much’.

‘She was right into the life. She would carry the guns for the boys, give alibis when needed and right up till she was killed mixing with gangsters,’ they said.

‘She always thought she was smart but this is the most dangerous Sydney has ever been. Killing women so openly is next level.’

In the past two years Sydney’s streets have erupted with highly-planned shootings.

The two slain woman are now the 15th and 16th victims of the bloody gang war.